I want to start my final reflection by stating that this
project has been one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I put countless hours of my time into this
not only during the trip down the river or making “Delta” afterwards but also
preparing for the trip in general. Every
day after school for weeks leading up to the actual senior project start date,
Alex and I put in incredible amounts of time preparing for this trip in ways
such as gathering all of our needed equipment (filming, cooking, sleeping,
first aid, fishing, etc.), planning and allocating all of the food needed, and
figuring out a way to pack ten days worth of supplies into two kayaks that were
definitely never intended for a trip such as this. At times, all of the extra work we put in
beforehand was tedious but in the end it paid off greatly. The trip itself was not only enjoyable but
also humbling and cultivating towards our growth into adult hood. It made every bit of hard work we put in
worthwhile and then some. The original goal
of the project was admittedly complicated and in some ways ambiguous. We intended to use the trip as a way to learn
how to film in a real life environment with a documentary as the reaching goal
but also to teach ourselves, through independence, how to become better men in
a young generation. I truly believe that
Alex and I both accomplished these goals on every front. As for the second part of the project, the
goal was clear: to learn the ins and outs of filmmaking through doing each part
of the process on our own. We spent two
weeks writing a script, editing that script, filming and recording, and then
compiling/editing all of that footage into a short film. Again, I think that
Alex and I both accomplished this goal because of the fact that we did it. We pushed and sometimes struggled our way
through every aspect of making “Delta” and we learned so much because of
it. In regards to the project as a
whole, there were five main milestones that we hit along the way. The first milestone we reached occurred
before the project even started and that was when we finished preparing for the
trip. We had our doubts leading up to
the trip as to whether it would pan out because at times it felt like we
wouldn’t be ready. It was hugely satisfying when we got onto the river
for the first time and we realized that everything we had put in was about to
pay off. Our second milestone came
during the trip when we decided to change our plan for what our short film would
be about. Originally, we intended this
project to end up as a documentary about life on the river and the people we
met along the way as well as how the river impacted their lives. Around day five of the trip, we realized that
the video would be much more interesting if we talked about our journey instead
of the people we met along the way. We
decided that it would be much more interesting to talk about our experiences
and the challenges we overcame then it would be to speculate on how the river
impacts the lives of a whole population. The third milestone was when we
finished our trip-simply because of the sense of accomplishment we had. Every
person we talked to on and off the river thought what we were doing was insane
but we pulled it off and came out stronger because of it. Milestone number four was
the completion of the first aspect of film making: the script. We brainstormed an idea and were able to
bring it to life by making it about us. We focused on our emotions during the
trip, our accomplishments, our failures, and reflections. Because we made it
personal, we were able to create something much more captivating than it would
have been otherwise. Filming was
probably the easiest and least time consuming milestone to reach but because we
learned so much about it, I deem it as a worthy benchmark. In contrast to filming, compiling and editing
the footage was the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of the creation processes but
by far the most rewarding. We constantly hit
speed bumps during editing involving technical problems and general
tedium. Luckily, once the software became more familiar, it turned
into a relatively enjoyable process filled with the instant gratification of
witnessing our creation take shape right in front of us. I have to say that our video is probably not
the greatest when compared to highly experienced film makers and producers but
I’m still more proud of it than anything else I’ve ever made in my life. It was
a gift to have the opportunity to do a project like this and given the chance
to do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing.
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